Pirates chase Brewers lefty Kyle Harrison early en route to 7-4 victory

Colin Beazley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sep 17, 2026

Published in Baseball

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PITTSBURGH — After clinching the National League Central, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy announced a change to his rotation. Instead of starting right-hander Dustin May on Thursday, he’d go with lefty Kyle Harrison.

The question was which lefty the Pirates would face. Would it be the Harrison who struck out 22 Pirates over two starts earlier this year? Or the one who had a 20.86 ERA in his last three appearances?

It ended up being the latter.

The Pirates chased Harrison with a five-run second inning, avoiding a three-game sweep with a 7-4 win Thursday afternoon at PNC Park.

Harrison retired five of the first six batters he faced before crumbling. With two outs in the second, he allowed eight consecutive baserunners before Murphy had seen enough.

A walk, a Jared Triolo single and a catcher’s interference call loaded the bases for Konnor Griffin, who laced a two-run double. Oneil Cruz followed with a two-run single. Harrison then hit Bryan Reynolds, walked Rafael Flores Jr. and hit Brandon Lowe, bringing in a fifth run and ending his day.

But the Brewers chipped away at that 5-1 lead in a Pirates bullpen game.

They scored one in the sixth inning and pulled within a run in the eighth. Luke Weaver came in with a three-run lead but gave up a sacrifice fly and a solo homer by Bo Naylor.

After Cooper Pratt singled, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate, Don Kelly turned to Mason Montgomery to get out of the jam. Montgomery earned a four-out save.

It was over when …

Henry Davis gave the Pirates a 7-4 lead with a two-run homer off Aaron Ashby in the bottom of the eighth inning. The homer, which clanged off the rotunda, was Davis’ 10th of the year.

On the mound

Until Weaver came in, the bullpen game went smoothly for the Pirates.

Starter Wilber Dotel allowed three hits and a walk in his second career start and struck out two. Curtis impressed, allowing just one hit in 3 1/3 innings, though he did walk three and struck out three.

Gregory Soto and Doval got the game to the eighth. Doval struck out two.

Weaver has a 6.23 ERA in 14 appearances in Pittsburgh. He had a 1.84 ERA in 42 appearances with the New York Mets before coming here at the trade deadline.

At the plate

The Pirates had just two hits between the second inning and Davis’ homer — a Lowe double in the eighth and Ronny Simon’s bunt single.

The Brewers walked five Pirates to go with Harrison’s two hit-by-pitches.

Bucs bites

— With the win, the Pirates clinched the season series against Milwaukee (7-6) for the first time since 2018.

— Before Thursday, Harrison had thrown 17 scoreless innings against the Pirates with 29 strikeouts.

— The Pirates and Brewers went 9 for 11 on ABS challenges against home plate umpire James Hoye.

Up next

The Kansas City Royals head to Pittsburgh to begin a three-game series Friday at 6:40 p.m. Paul Skenes (10-11, 3.78 ERA) will face Randy Dobnak (3-4, 2.73).